What precisely is driving the conspiracy theories about Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs? : NPR

The instances in opposition to Diddy aren’t going away. Neither are the conspiracy theories.

Since Sean “Diddy” Combs’ indictment and arrest in September, greater than two dozen civil lawsuits have been filed in opposition to the media mogul for sexual assault, rape, intercourse trafficking and extra. Most of the complaints, in addition to the federal expenses, depict a sample during which Combs allegedly exploited his stature throughout music, vogue and leisure to victimize those that appeared as much as him — together with minors. The federal expenses in opposition to the mogul not solely accuse him of misconduct, but additionally of utilizing his staff, report label and plenty of enterprise outfits to arrange and facilitate his crimes for years.

As these allegations have performed out in court docket proceedings and authorized paperwork, an internet of rumors and hypothesis has additionally developed on-line. It has been bolstered by social media platforms and algorithms, and at instances threatens to shroud the details of the civil and prison instances in opposition to Combs.

Combs has repeatedly denied, by way of his attorneys, that he has ever trafficked, drugged or sexually assaulted anybody. However the deluge of accusations in opposition to him, a surveillance video that exhibits him kicking his ex-girlfriend, the singer Cassie Ventura, in a Los Angeles resort and new claims of Combs’ aggressive habits prior to now have led many to marvel how such abuses of energy went unchecked for therefore lengthy — and who else may be complicit in cultivating a tradition of silence across the alleged crimes.

On social media, content material creators and web sleuths have tried to piece collectively a story of violence and exploitation that always values rumour and conspiracy over reported data, all whereas framing themselves because the keepers of a fact that conventional media refuses to report on.

“It is one thing that is huge, difficult, darkish, scary, and subsequently exhausting for individuals to wrap their heads round,” says Jack Brewster, enterprise editor on the misinformation monitoring website NewsGuard. “And so after they do, they fill the dots with conspiracy theories.”

Makes an attempt to hyperlink different high-profile celebrities to the allegations in opposition to Combs are among the many theories which have gained probably the most consideration. One week after Combs was arrested in September, a memoir purportedly written by the late Kim Porter, a former associate of Combs, shot straight to the highest of the Amazon bestsellers checklist — till her kids with Combs issued an announcement denouncing its legitimacy. In October, singer-songwriter Jaguar Wright appeared on Piers Morgan’s Uncensored and made a variety of inflammatory claims about Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s ties to Combs. The Carters’ attorneys received concerned, main Morgan to difficulty a public apology and edit the allegations in opposition to Bey and Jay out of the unique interview.

On December 8, a lawsuit accusing Combs and an unnamed male celeb of raping a 13-year-old lady in 2000 was amended and refiled to call Shawn Carter, the rapper and mogul Jay-Z, because the second assailant. The lawsuit additionally states that an unnamed feminine celeb watched the rape. Carter has denied the allegations, however hypothesis is already operating rampant. Some are pointing to Beyoncé because the unnamed feminine celeb and others are discovering the Carters complicit in Combs’ alleged crimes. On social media, a video first posted in March by YouTube psychic Sloan Bella has resurfaced and garnered a whole bunch of 1000’s of views; within the video, Bella claims that the Carters are “high-level authorities experiments” whose downfall she predicted. Different recirculated movies from Bella’s account present related claims about Combs — some on-line at the moment are presenting these clips as proof for extra theories about Combs and the Carters.

These are just some examples of how misinformation (false data unfold no matter intent), disinformation (intentionally deceptive or manipulated data) and conspiracy theories (which is usually a mixture of the 2) about Combs have gained vital traction in latest months.

In October, artist supervisor Courtney Burgess was subpoenaed to seem in entrance of the grand jury within the Southern District of New York. The identical day he appeared in court docket, Burgess gave interviews to TMZ and Information Nation detailing his testimony; Burgess claimed he’s in possession of 11 flash drives containing video Combs and different celebrities partaking in “freak offs” (coerced sexual performances) and Porter’s “actual memoir.” The next week, Combs’ authorized crew, headed up by Marc Angifilio, requested a gag order that might prohibit victims and their attorneys from talking publicly in regards to the case. (This request was later denied.)

“It has been was clickbait of what claims get individuals’s consideration,” says Sowmya Krishnamurthy, hip-hop journalist and creator of Style Killa: How Hip-Hop Revolutionized Excessive Style. “The rising theories are a witch hunt for different celebrities concerned.”

Previously, factual allegations and conspiratorial rumors have been conflated to create related narratives about influential males who’ve been convicted of sexual misconduct, like Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and financier Jeffrey Epstein — however what’s it about Combs that fuels the misinformation machine? Within the present media ecosystem, what makes these tales distinct and harmful?

Diddy’s pervasive cultural energy

An enormous a part of it’s Combs’ affect and longevity throughout a variety of industries. “There was a time when he was the most important celeb on the planet,” Krishnamurthy explains. “And that is additionally one thing we have not actually skilled … Outdoors of Hollywood, lots of people did not even know who [Harvey] Weinstein was.”

Combs did greater than merely stand up as a profitable report government, founding his label Dangerous Boy in 1992 and shepherding the careers of artists like Infamous B.I.G. He created his personal persona as a rapper and producer, changing into a platinum-selling, Grammy-winning artist in his personal proper; he branched into vogue with Sean John Clothes; he angled his eye for expertise into media properties like MTV’s Making the Band and, ultimately, the creation of Revolt TV, and he led highly-lucrative partnerships with manufacturers like Cîroc Vodka and DeLeón Tequila. In different phrases, within the ’90s and ’00s, it appeared like every part Combs touched turned to gold — and that earned him not simply cultural clout, however a major air of admiration, significantly within the Black neighborhood.

“In a variety of methods, Diddy and folk like him are like the conclusion of the American dream,” says A.D. Carson, a professor of hip-hop on the College of Virginia. “They’re avatars of what of us perceive to be Again excellence or Black achievement.” So there are problems that come up, Professor Carson says, when that legacy is thrown into query — however it might come at the price of the alleged victims.

Combs’ notorious White Events within the Hamptons and Miami, now a website of the alleged abuse and trafficking, have been as soon as a standing image for these within the higher echelons of celeb. It was at these invite-only events the place politicians would toast with the homeowners of sports activities groups, actual property moguls with reverends, huge display screen stars with video vixens, theater impresarios and up-and-coming rappers. The White Events have been recognized to be debaucherous but innocuous — that was the attraction. In that vein, Krishnamurthy says, Combs’ public picture has at all times been fodder for tabloid gossip and the conspiracies which might be born from that. “With Puff, he is at all times been mired in several types of controversy,” she says. “I feel now due to the web, and social media particularly, you are seeing a variety of Gen Z and youthful millennials studying about a few of these issues for the primary time.”

One such principle that has unfold like wildfire on social media in mild of the lawsuits is that Combs is homosexual. Krishnamurthy says this principle stems from homophobia in hip-hop and the decades-old rumor about “the homosexual rapper,” a story former HOT 97 host Wendy Williams helped popularize within the ’90s a few well-known man in hip-hop who she claimed was closeted. Earlier this 12 months, Charlemagne tha God alleged that Williams believed Combs was homosexual, and consequently, Combs received her fired from her job at HOT 97. As extra males come ahead with allegations in opposition to Combs, Krishnamurthy has observed hypothesis in regards to the mogul’s sexuality has been made right into a operating joke on-line. Many web theorists convey Combs’s sexual identification into query as a jeer in the direction of him and different male celebrities and say “No Diddy” (in lieu of “no homo”) to distance themselves from the subject of queerness they’re dissecting.

“That is change into the headline. I’ve not heard anybody speaking about victims. I’ve not heard about making the trade safer for ladies or for younger individuals,” says Krishnamurthy.

The web and social media suggestions loop

Krishnamurthy, Brewster and Carson all agree that a part of the issue is that many individuals right this moment depend on social media to get their information; and clicks, views and virality are handled interchangeably with vetted and verified data. Earlier this 12 months, a music purportedly by Justin Bieber the place he sings “I misplaced myself at a Diddy get together” garnered tens of millions of views throughout TikTok, X and YouTube — a number of information shops later reported the music was more than likely generated by AI. However, the music sparked a wave of resurfaced clips of Combs and Bieber’s interactions over time on social media, main customers to scrutinize and speculate in regards to the relationship between the 2 artists and mission a story of victimhood upon Bieber, who was at one level seen as Combs’ mentee and has not publicly addressed the allegations or conspiracies.

Brewster says that if individuals search “Diddy” on TikTok, there is a excessive chance they’re going to see a video that feeds into these theories. In 2022, NewsGuard revealed a report that discovered nearly 20% of all search engine outcomes on TikTok contained some sort of misinformation, which posed hurt significantly to younger customers who usually tend to depend on the platform’s search perform to study present occasions. In an announcement to NPR, a TikTok spokesperson stated that, per its neighborhood tips, that are enforced via a mix of expertise and human moderation, the platform is dedicated to eradicating “misinformation that causes vital hurt to people, our neighborhood, or the bigger public no matter intent” and that between April and June of 2024, the platform eliminated 97% of movies “that have been categorized as ‘misinformation’ proactively,” 77% of the time earlier than anybody noticed the fabric.

However Brewster, who led the TikTok report at NewsGuard, says most of the identical issues nonetheless persist, and different platforms face related points. “With YouTube particularly, the best way the algorithm is predicated upon your thumbnail, your title, the extent of how sticky the search engine optimization is — that is going to just be sure you get pushed up within the algorithm,” says Krishnamurthy, who has her personal YouTube channel. “So you need to marvel, for a content material creator, are you being incentivized to maybe be extra dramatic or extra salacious than is critical?”

On YouTube, recognized provocateurs like Perez Hilton rack up tens of 1000’s of views by utilizing titles like “Essentially the most horrifying Diddy lawsuit to date!” for movies discussing the case. In the meantime, a 15-year-old video posted on Justin Bieber’s official YouTube channel that chronicles 48 hours spent alongside Combs has resurfaced to the highest outcomes for the search “Diddy” on YouTube, with dozens of feedback questioning why the video is being advisable in customers’ algorithms and homepages many years after its launch.

YouTube’s neighborhood tips state that “sure sorts of deceptive or misleading content material with severe danger of egregious hurt” usually are not allowed on the platform, and movies containing such content material could also be eradicated; after a number of infractions inside 90 days, a channel could also be terminated. However in 2022, greater than 80 fact-checkers from around the globe revealed an open letter to YouTube’s former CEO, Susan Wojcicki, expressing concern that the platform was one of many world’s main conduits of mis- and disinformation and that not sufficient measures have been being taken to curb the unfold.

In an announcement to NPR, a YouTube spokesperson stated that “YouTube’s Neighborhood Tips apply to everybody and all types of content material. As we do for a lot of main information tales, our techniques are working to attach viewers to content material associated to the allegations from authoritative information shops in search outcomes and suggestions.”

However Krishnamurthy and Brewster each increase issues about what penalties, if any, come up from implicitly or explicitly pushing false narratives on-line — particularly as soon as the claims have already been seen and shared broadly.

Media Literacy 

With the data pipeline extra congested than ever, reporters, analysts and content material creators (who usually could contemplate themselves all three) are all competing for a similar consideration in the identical areas on-line. Some say the dissolving delineations in media make it tougher for the buyer to decipher truth from fiction.

Brewster does not imagine media literacy is on the decline — “individuals have gotten extra skeptical,” he says. As a substitute, he locations the onus on the networks that maintain, harvest and promote the data, particularly TikTok, that pushes misinformation to the highest.

“If 20 years in the past, somebody advised you that each single newsstand was going to have nameless newspapers and magazines and also you would not know something about them once you have been going to purchase them, you’d say, ‘What the hell are you speaking about?’ However that is the world that we occupy now on X, on TikTok, on Instagram,” he says. “We do not know actually any details about the sources the place we’re getting our information, as a result of all we now have is what individuals supply.”

Krishnamurthy weathered the evolution of print media into digital areas and lately began migrating her personal cultural criticism to YouTube six months in the past. She agrees that the platforms are the supply of confusion, however attracts a extra bleak conclusion from her expertise of importing every day: “I feel, sadly, the general public’s degree of media literacy is just about zero,” she concedes. What’s much more ironic is that within the flood of this low literacy suggestions loop, the nicely for probably the most credentialed voices within the area have run dry.

Hemorrhaging of Hip-Hop Media

Getty Photos of Combs’ White Events are pieced collectively by seemingly “verified” accounts to implicate any celeb in his early 2000’s orbit as collaborating within the “freak offs” that at the moment are underneath federal investigation. However with hip-hop media changing into a shell of what it as soon as was, there are fewer cultural checks and balances in opposition to these allegations making their means into the broader dialog about hip-hop trade energy dynamics.

Within the final 20 years of Combs’ cultural ascent — conquering vogue, movie, wine & spirits, even Broadway — there’s been a parallel divestment from devoted hip-hop media. Magazines particularly on the hip-hop beat — like The Supply, XXL, Rap Pages and VIBE — both shuttered or misplaced their dominance and bandwidth for enterprise reporting. Reveals like Rap Metropolis, 106 & Park have sundown, blogs like 2DopeBoyz or NahRight folded into broader music shops underneath the overall umbrella of “popular culture” and broadcast radio exhibits have broadened their style scope. Because the music and tradition of hip-hop have grown in recognition, publications that have not traditionally coated it have began to note and money in. (You would even argue the rise of Combs’ celeb in industries outdoors of hip-hop contributed to this shift.) Krishnamurthy factors out that there are fewer journalists overlaying these instances who possess each the reporting chops and the cultural experience. This contributes to the misinformation and disinformation going unchecked earlier than changing into viral, with nearly no penalties.

“It really is an ideal storm between the rise of conspiracy theories and the downfall of an establishment,” she says. “What ended up taking place in hip-hop media was similar to something that got here underneath print media or conventional media, that previously a number of years has eroded with the rise of expertise, social media, the influencer very a lot changing into an exalted voice as somebody who was an authority. However what we find yourself having now could be, I might argue, one of many largest tales in hip-hop of all time is being reported by individuals outdoors of hip-hop. And so they do not have the again story. They do not have the nuance.”

Because of this, commentators missing the nuance and vital context soar to probably the most salacious, and generally harmful, conclusions. “Each celeb, anybody who was somebody, has an image with Diddy sooner or later,” Krishnamurthy says. “I feel as a result of so many new followers and younger followers are simply studying about Diddy and who he’s and his profession, they’re Googling him and seeing all these celebrities and photographs and so they’re instantly drawing a line between, ‘Okay, this individual is in a photograph with him, so they need to even be a co-conspirator.’ Perhaps they seem to be a sufferer! … It is so irresponsible to type of pull different individuals into it. They’ve not been named. They’ve not been formally charged. And we do not know what that story is.”

Click on-baity bot accounts are simply the beginning: The peddling of the disavowed Kim Porter memoir and Jaguar Wright’s private claims on Piers Morgan’s Uncensored are two examples of mis- and disinformation being promoted in areas that attain rather a lot farther than area of interest, conspiracy principle corners of the web. Professor Carson factors out that the motives of those that make such claims and ingratiate themselves with this ongoing story with out look after the cultural implications, have to be interrogated, too.

Some conspiracy theories, Carson says, are extra broadly accepted within the Black neighborhood as a result of “the histories that Black individuals have endured on this nation makes outright dismissal of conspiracy look like an extremely impractical factor to do.” And since this skepticism of techniques of energy is inherited, Carson does not lay sole duty on these creating the theories. “I do not know if the smoke that I’ve can be as a lot for Jaguar Wright than it might be for the individuals who do not know how you can vet the data or do not know how you can contextualize what she has to supply to that dialog.”

The extra individuals with out the right cultural credentials who, even unknowingly, soar on the sensational Combs-conspiracy bandwagon, the extra vivid racial undertones of a number of the theories change into.

Scapegoating of hip-hop as a complete

Past this normal lack of discernment and the attrition of correct cultural reporters, there is a extra hid cause why the theories round these instances are outsized in comparison with different highly effective males: the perceived criminality of a self-made, Black, hip-hop mogul.

As a multi-hyphenate mogul, Combs was in a position to garner affect in each trade he entered time beyond regulation. Within the wake of the murders of the Infamous B.I.G. and 2Pac, throughout one in every of hip-hop’s darkest valleys, Combs was in a position to usher a brand new period of opulence, status and partying into the tradition, parlaying that enjoyable into monetary and political energy. Within the spirit of a traditional Biggie bar from “Juicy,” Combs was in a position to take hip-hop farther than many ever imagined, lifting up a Black artform to a brand new pinnacle. Those that’ve been watching how the conspiracy theories transfer say sure narratives are doused with racist rationale that ignites adverse stereotypes about hip-hop in full.

“There’s this age outdated engagement with scapegoating hip-hop. That’s the projection of pathology on hip-hop tradition,” Professor Carson says, citing many years of adverse illustration and worry mongering finished by mass media.

For Krishnamurthy, the obvious bias comes via when analysts who lack cultural consciousness communicate on these instances, even peddling misinformation from media archives which have traditionally vilified the music: “Should you take heed to, as an instance, an outsider or somebody with a really cursory information, it is very simple to type of paint hip-hop with a really adverse brush as a result of all they know is what they heard or what they learn on-line.”

The way in which Professor Arionne Nettles, who teaches digital journalism at Florida A&M College, sees it, this pathology goes even deeper than hip-hop and will be twofold in its deployment: “First, there may be the true undeniable fact that traditionally, we do know that there have been instances the place Black males had been unfairly accused of issues and that the stereotype of the Black man, particularly, from slavery and after, has been sort of an oversexualized brute.” Nettles says she’s additionally seen this stereotype wielded by some theorists in protection of Combs, used to forestall accountability on behalf of actual hurt or violence that has occurred to victims by the hands of a strong Black man.

So far, there are greater than 20 civil case filings in opposition to Combs alleging sexual assault, rape and coercion. That is along with the federal expenses. Heading into jury choice for Combs’ Could 2025 trial, Professor Nettles thinks it should be exhausting to search out neutral New Yorkers who have not seen or heard any piece of misinformation surrounding the instances. “Juries are made of individuals and persons are going to have opinions and it could actually cloud what individuals see because the details and what they could have are available baking,” Nettles explains. “And it is actually nearly inconceivable at this level to keep away from it.”

Because the 2025 trial approaches, these theories, and the corresponding social media ways, have already made it into official court docket proceedings. Throughout court docket hearings in November, to find out whether or not he can be granted pretrial bail, the prosecution accused Combs of “relentlessly” attempting to contact victims of their case by utilizing different inmates’ cellphone privileges to make calls to people who find themselves not on his permitted contact checklist. Prosecutors additionally accused the 55-year-old of constructing plans, by way of this unauthorized communication, to launch an orchestrated social media marketing campaign to sway public opinion in his favor, a plan that might have painted him as a household man and included his sons sharing a birthday message on social media.

Combs’ main protection legal professional, Marc Agnifilo, rebuked the claims that his consumer is plotting any marketing campaign. And as for the mounting civil instances being filed in opposition to the mogul as he awaits trial? In an announcement to NPR, Combs’ authorized crew known as the credibility of Tony Buzbee, the legal professional for most of the 2024 civil fits filed after Combs’ prison arrest, into query. “The lawyer behind this lawsuit is serious about media consideration slightly than the reality, as is apparent from his fixed press appearances and 1-800 quantity,” Combs’ attorneys declared. “As we have stated earlier than, Mr. Combs can’t reply to each new publicity stunt, even in response to claims which might be facially ridiculous or demonstrably false.”

In speedy response to being named a co-defendant in a 2000 rape allegation, Jay-Z accused Buzbee of being an “ambulance chaser in an affordable go well with” whose solely motivation in representing these civil fits is to take advantage of Black celebrities in a second that criminalizes your complete tradition. “This lawyer, who I’ve finished a little bit of analysis on, appears to have a sample of a majority of these theatrics,” Carter’s public assertion learn, concluding, “Solely your community of conspiracy theorists, faux psychics will imagine the idiotic claims you will have levied in opposition to me that, if not for the seriousness surrounding hurt to children, can be laughable.”

In an announcement emailed to NPR, Carter denied the allegations made in opposition to him within the December submitting and said that he was the goal of a blackmail try designed to extort settlement cash. Although the rapper and Roc Nation exec isn’t named in a November submitting in opposition to Buzbee, there’s a John Doe celeb within the technique of suing The Buzbee Legislation Agency for extortion. “Defendants have threatened to unleash solely fabricated and malicious allegations of sexual assault—together with a number of cases of rape of a minor, each female and male—in opposition to plaintiff if he refuses to adjust to their calls for,” the grievance reads. NPR reached out to The Buzbee Agency for remark and is awaiting to listen to again.

In the end, the whirlwind of mis- and disinformation has distracted from the very actual allegations at hand, entered as truth within the courts by actual people who find themselves claiming actual, long run hurt. Throughout the lawsuits filed in opposition to Combs by alleged victims, emotions of disgrace and deep-seated trauma that resulted from the assaults and the worry related to ever coming ahead are a standard thread. There is a sample among the many conspiracy theories which might be circulating most quickly on-line, too: They obfuscate and dehumanize the plaintiffs utterly.

“That is nonetheless an trade the place individuals do not speak. And if you wish to work on this trade, if you wish to achieve success, there are particular simply types of issues that individuals settle for,” Krishnamurthy says. “And if we would like that to vary, we now have to create a protected area for individuals to come back ahead, for individuals to share their story … If the Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs case really is meant to be a watershed second for hip-hop’s, as an instance, #MeToo reckoning, we’re not going to get to that place if the extent of dialogue stays inside this type of finger-pointing and attempting to out individuals.”